Project 182 Inferno

[Sii.]

After months of searching, I finally got an Inferno 182 a couple of months ago now. Viewed a few different ones but couldn't find a nice, low mileage example for ages.
All the nice ones were a million miles away and the rest that was near had s**t for sale ads. But in the end, I found this Inferno hiding away in Grimsby and really glad I held off for this colour.

Quick overview:
Around 66k miles with some mods already done. The main ones being a full ktec exhaust system, front seats and 40mm springs.
No service history before the father/son who had owned it as they had a small falling out with the previous owner over a small mechanical fault, so the books weren't sent over. So, unfortunately, no actual proof of belts being done but do have a screenshot of the ebay ad which mentions the belts last done in 2015. So will be getting all done later this year or early next year.
Few issues here and there. Serv/abs light comes on intermittently (although hasn't come on for a quite a while now). Doesn't affect anything when driving.
Handbrake position wack so back brakes binding.
Engine light due to decat.
The biggie is an immobiliser that occasionally doesn't want to start. Going to get a specialist to have a look at this one day. Can normally trick it to work by either pressing the brake pedal or getting in/out of the car. But would rather get this looked at soon ish in case it decides one day to completely go nope.
Don't think the cruise control works either.

But apart from some other niggles here and there am proper happy with her. Looks ace, sounds ace and goes well. Going to take a while to get used to it going from the 1.2.

Have done a fair bit since owning it and has been in the garage for the past couple of weeks for a huge service/sorting out some of the above issues so I'll update this more over the next few weeks as to what has been done.

Lots of plans for her but not trying to spend too much atm as planning to travel again shortly so will be getting tucked up in a garage somewhere whilst I'm away.
If you've seen my other thread with the non-sport you'll realise am pretty ocd with the attention to detail, expect the same with this

One standard phone pic for now (during a major cleaning sesh)..

 

[Darren61]

Looks lovely, Inferno is underrated IMO. Especially when it’s been polished up! I didn’t set out to get an Inferno myself but when I viewed it I changed my mind very quickly lol.

Guessing it’s a Cup?

 

[Daz...]

Nice bean, looks tidy ??

 

[MattRS182]

Love it.

 

[prodriv3r84]

Looks good. Nice color.

 

[Sii.]

Looks lovely, Inferno is underrated IMO. Especially when it’s been polished up! I didn’t set out to get an Inferno myself but when I viewed it I changed my mind very quickly lol.

Guessing it’s a Cup?

Yeah it's a cup.
They seriously look amazing in the sun! I was kinda leaning to get a RB but happy I didnt now!

 

[mossyv6]

Looks lovely mate

But we need more photos

 

[Brookie.]

What's the reg on that? Looks a lot like my old one...

 

[Sii.]

Looks lovely mate

But we need more photos

Cheers! Haha coming in a sec Had a mare recently with the computer and colour profiles so couldn't edit pics properly.

What's the reg on that? Looks a lot like my old one...

YC05VYE

 

[Sii.]

Pics finally edited. Few bits done on these pics but I'll list in better detail later on..

Renault Clio Inferno 182 by Simon Hubbert, on Flickr

Renault Clio Inferno 182 by Simon Hubbert, on Flickr

Renault Clio Inferno 182 by Simon Hubbert, on Flickr

Renault Clio Inferno 182 by Simon Hubbert, on Flickr

Renault Clio Inferno 182 by Simon Hubbert, on Flickr

Renault Clio Inferno 182 by Simon Hubbert, on Flickr

 

[Sii.]

New dipped bulbs fitted -

New blades

Swapped a few of the parts that were wrapped to the ones I had painted in my 1.2 -

And a few of the buttons/trimmed parts -

Long ass aerial swapped to the stubby (nice colour match whoever sprayed the spoiler..!).

 

[Sii.]

New led bulb/holder for the back.

New LED reverse bulbs.

Swapped the speaker covers/door handles from the 1.2.
Doesn't look as good with the cup door cards but I would like to change the door cards/rear seats as the pov spec look dreadful.

And also swapped the parcel shelf from my 1.2 which I had sprayed with black fabric spray and had OCD sprayed the small end bits/clips black.

Stuck the new smaller plate on and swapped the front splitter to the gloss black one, from the 1.2 again.
Don't have an after pic here..

The 182 did have carbon effect wrapped fog light surrounds and a painted upper grille but it looked quite naff imo as was done in a matte finish, so they got swapped for the gloss black fog surrounds/upper grille from ze 1.2. Again no after pic for now. Gave them both a good polish cause why not?!

 

[Clio_fool]

Looking good ?. That spoiler though ?

 

[Sii.]

Looking good ?. That spoiler though ?

Cheers! Spoilers an odd one as not always noticeable but then you look at it from an angle and it's just a million miles off ?‍♂️ on the cards at a later date to be re-done.


Final few bits from the 1.2 to this one:

Side indicator covers changed to the black ones.

Lower handbrake handle plastic changed to the trimmed one.

And lastly swapped the 2 inside boot panels. One in the 182 was a bit scratched and chipped.

Had this boot matt laying around for years as never fit it to my non sport due to the sub/amp, so may as well use this for now. Tidys the appearance up a touch.

Better picture showing the gloss front grille/fog surrounds/splitter.

 

[Sii.]

A couple of pics of the inside from the full clean when I first got her. No before ones but was pretty mucky in places.
Put the FK euro lights on whilst I was doing this, as seen in other pics up top.

As there's no proper service history with the car, thought it would be best to 'start again' and put it in for a full service with the intention of belts etc later in the year. All the below got fitted whilst doing the service.
Purchased a Renault service book from ebay so all will be logged and kept up to date.

New battery as the one in the car wasn't overly great. Had it tested whilst broke down one day, and the chappie advised a new one wouldn't be a bad idea so went with the same brand (Yuasa) as my other Clio as it had been top-notch running all the speakers/amp/sub faultlessly and still working fine after storing the car for around a year.

Ktec braided brake hoses fitted.

New RamAir filter.

Replaced coolant.

Gearbox oil, spark plugs, oil filter, sump plug washer, pollen filter.

Oil change and purchased new brake fluid as RBF 600 gets great reviews.

 

[Sii.]

Think Infernos were made for sunsets. Forgot to take my SLR so phone pic has to do.

 

[Conor L]

Stunning car! Making me want an inferno evenmore if I can find 1 that is.

 

[Sii.]

Stunning car! Making me want an inferno evenmore if I can find 1 that is.

Thanks! Took me a long time to find one but definitely hold out for it if you want the colour. It's worth it!
I got lucky with it being so near as every other for sale post seemed to be Scotland or down south.

 

[frayz]

Proper marmite colour it would seem. However i love mine.

 

[Sii.]

Proper marmite colour it would seem. However i love mine.

Really? Not met anyone yet who dislikes the colour.

 

[Sii.]

Did around 1000 miles recently as went down to Goodwood for the FoS. The only mishap was one of the foglights cracked en route via a stone flying up.


Other recent faults after owning it for a little while now -
The immobiliser fault has come and gone again recently (doesn't start).
Serv/esp light is intermittent.
Bit hesitant when starting it up and again in quick ish succession.
Air con needs looking at as not kicking in, hopefully just a regas.
Code reader is showing up the brake pedal switch and the cruise control (which hasn't worked since I've owned it).
And the biggie is there's a fair bit of a crunch in 2nd when going from 1st to 2nd over 3.5k revs. Already will be an expensive year with the belts later in the year so going to have to be gentle in 1st for quite a while as new gearbox/refurb isn't something I can afford right now. No fast starts in this

But all being well I won't' be using it after a couple of months (travelling) for a while so the gearbox isn't the end of the world. All the belts and other problems will hopefully be looked at whilst it's in storage. Found a Renault guy near back home who will be doing all the work so will also get him to MOT it and give it a full check over. Not really looking forward to that bill!



Finally gave it a full detail before Goodwood.
Pre wash/citrus & snow foam.
Decon.
Megs goldclass shampoo.
Menzerna 3500 on a DA.
PB black hole.
PB sealant.
Fusso wax and topped with King of Gloss the day after.
Chemical guys trim restorer.
PB wheel sealant (applied twice).
Rainx for the windows.
Cheers to my dad for cleaning up the engine.

Clio 182 Cup - Inferno by Simon Hubbert, on Flickr

 

[cat171]

Looks really nice!

 

[leeds2592]

Long ass aerial swapped to the stubby (nice colour match whoever sprayed the spoiler..!).
View attachment 1423816

Spoiler on my Inferno is like this as well, albeit not as bad as yours looks. You can only tell on mine when properly looking in a certain light. Think it's because who ever sprayed mine didn't put a base coat of red down before spraying the actual colour.

 

[Louis]

Spoiler on my Inferno is like this as well, albeit not as bad as yours looks. You can only tell on mine when properly looking in a certain light. Think it's because who ever sprayed mine didn't put a base coat of red down before spraying the actual colour.

Green at the minute isnt it?

 

[leeds2592]

Green at the minute isnt it?

 

[Krarl]

Broken at the minute isnt it?

Better

 

[leeds2592]

Better

See above for same response haha.

 

[Sii.]

Bit of a crap couple of months with this, unfortunately. Needed a new NSF caliper on the day of a funeral, 2 new brake pads alongside that. Asked for Brembo oems, got some cheaper ones instead. Really don't have any luck with mechanics.

New tie track rod end/suspension arm bush on the OSF + tracking. Still waiting for that to settle before going back and making sure all ok as they didn't print the sheet off...

And the biggie goes to the immobiliser again. Past few weeks the car has hardly wanted to start. All the tricks with the locking/unlocking and central locking didn't work either so had to push the thing back to the garage, thankfully only couple of minutes away. New crank sensor/wire didn't fix it so the joy continued for a while. And now finally (hopefully) traced the issue to the UCH as after getting the box out, giving it a wiggle around etc the car fired up the first time and kept doing until you gave it a wiggle again. So posted that off to be repaired yesterday. So hoping for some good news this next week as really need a car asap as moving out the flat shortly.

Bought this carbon wrapped gearstick top bit but not sure if i prefer it tbh. Think I might give the other a spruce up oneday as the orange has faded a bit in the selectors.

 

[Clio_fool]

Unlucky but only teething troubles pal, it'll all be worth it once it's sorted. I mean, just look at it! 😍👍

 

[Sii.]

Unlucky but only teething troubles pal, it'll all be worth it once it's sorted. I mean, just look at it! 😍👍

Keeping optimistic! That's the bit getting me through the bills haha.

 

[Sii.]

Been a while since the last update. I was out of the country during covid and travelled/worked a lot, so the car was left with my dad to use. Now I'm back I'm using it a bit more. Thankfully a lot of the issues that plagued me previously do seem to have been fixed.

Some of the work carried out.

1. Major service carried out in 2020, cambelt, pump, dephaser etc.
2. Sport cat fitted, decat removed. New lambda sensor so no more engine light.
3. Replaced osr hand brake cable.
4. Near side drive shaft replaced. The washer water pump was replaced twice, must have been a dodgy batch
5. New DAB radio fitted.
6. The windscreen was replaced and seals. The old one was scratched quite badly, not sure what a previous owner was up to.
7. An injector needed replacing.
8. Another small service carried out in 2023.
9. Air con never worked so quite a bit of work needed to be done. New AC condenser, seals, Nissens AC dryer. So far so good!
10. Last year it started running horribly and lumpy, managed to limp it to a garage and they found 3 wires broken and a couple shorting out via the throttle body. Apparently, that area is quite untidy still so will stick on that on the to do list for a later point. Wouldn't be surprised if some of the wiring issues and bodges were some of the causes for the issues previous when it never wanted to start.
11. Spoiler resprayed.
12. KTEC Induction kit fitted.

Finally had a big check-up with Nathan at Renzuki in Lincoln last year (highly recommended!). Something I wanted to do since I owned it. Quite a lot was discovered but was exactly what I wanted for someone to do, running a fine tooth comb through everything with someone who knew their stuff.

New front and rear Brembo HC brake discs and Brembo pads.
Replaced both front lower suspension arms, ones with a PMS strengthening plate

Replaced both front lower ball joints.
Replaced both front outer and inner anti-roll bar bushes.
Replaced both front wheel bearings.
Replaced missing coolant radiator upper rubbers.
Re-secured the AC condenser to the coolant radiator.
Re-secured undertray.
Re-secured front wheel arch liners.
Re-secured NSF headlight/missing bolts.
And various other bits and pieces.

Replaced the front and back seats with the spotty seats. The buckets looked cool but so bloody uncomfortable. Also did the back seats.

Finally had a good scrub up.

 

[Sii.]

The 'new' back seats..